New restrictions announced on minors buying e-cigarettes

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ)-  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued proposed restrictions that would prohibit convenience stores and gas stations from selling most flavored e-cigarettes unless they prevent minors from entering the store altogether or create a separate section for those products that minors cannot enter.

The FDA also would curb bulk purchases of flavored e-cigarettes online and require the makers of e-cigarettes currently on the market to submit their products for FDA review by August 2021, a year earlier than previously required.

The restrictions announced today also would ban the sale of all flavored cigars on the market since February 2007.

The FDA said these new restrictions are another in a series of measures intended to reduce the epidemic in youth vaping and e-cigarette use.

Following is a statement from Ben Chandler, president and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

“The new FDA restrictions would make it much more difficult for underage youth to access the flavored e-cigarettes that are so popular with adolescents and teens. These are the right steps. They’re necessary steps. And the FDA says they may be followed by additional steps if youth vaping doesn’t steeply decline after they go into effect in the next several months.

“There’s no place for cotton candy, bubble gum or mango flavored e-cigarettes in a society that values the health of its children. Banning these kinds of flavors altogether in e-cigarettes and cigars ultimately may be what it takes to protect our kids from tobacco and nicotine addiction.

“Meanwhile, the Foundation is preparing a campaign to warn Kentucky youth, parents and young adults about the dangers of e-cigarette use while the brain is still developing, up to age 25. The campaign, to be launched within the next month, will feature the voices of Kentucky youth sharing the surprising and often frightening facts they’ve learned about vapes and e-cigarettes that the industry has sought to hide in order to addict the next generation to their deadly tobacco products.”